Genuine Curiosity

Does the iPhone OS v3 fix my top gripes?

Several months ago, I wrote about the top 3 things that I felt were missing from the iPhone.  This week, version 3 of the iPhone OS was released and I’m using it now.  I don’t have the new iPhone 3Gs hardware – I’m running on the “old” iPhone 3G hardware, but since that’s the bulk of the installed base right now I figured it might be useful to share my findings here.

Gripe	Status
I couldn’t cut & paste.	Fixed – and it works very well in iPhone OS v3.
I couldn’t invite others to appointments (i.e. initiate meeting requests).	Fixed – it works fairly well.  Would like to be able to check the availability of other attendees, but at least I can invite people to meetings.
I couldn’t attach / forward contact information to others.	Fixed – it is now possible to “Share” contact, which opens an email and attaches the contact as a .vcf file, which is fairly standard.

The v3 OS update is free for iPhone owners (iPod Touch owners must pay $10 for some reason) so it should be an automatic for you if you have an iPhone.

Killerest feature

The “killerest” new feature (my opinion) is “Spotlight Search,” which provides the ability to search for things on the device.  It was very painful to find things in old emails before – it was all manual and time-consuming.  Now you can search for items, messages, songs, appointments, etc. and find them in a jiffy.  The only limitation I’ve found is in searching email folders other than your inbox: if you haven’t opened the folder on your iPhone, or you haven’t opened it in a while, you won’t find recent emails in the search – you’ll have to open the folder so it will sync.

To make this slightly easier, each folder now has a Search field at the top of the folder so you can easily find things within that particular folder.

…And the rest(ish)

Some other improvements I’ve noticed in this version (not a complete list – there are even more):

• Support for stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) so you can use wireless headphones
• You can now sync Notes between Outlook and the iPhone (not wirelessly – only when you dock with iTunes)
• Better rendering of HTML in the browser
• Addition of a Voice Memo application (ideal for those “notes to self”, though I still prefer Jott)
• Better support for clicking on links, phone numbers, etc. in appointments if you’re syncing with Microsoft Exchange (though for some reason, you can’t click on any of these if they are in the subject of the appointment – only in the body, and only if they aren’t inside an attachment) 
• This capability, along with cut & paste (which also won’t work in the subject line for some reason) will save a lot of idiotic instances of needing to write down meeting phone numbers and passcodes
• This also means you can put addresses inside the notes part of a meeting, click on the address, and it will automagically look up the address in Google Maps – again, don’t put it in the location field because it won’t be clickable there – put it in the notes
• The podcast controls, which I mentioned in my last post
• Lots of cosmetic/usability improvements in the recent calls, favorites, and other phone-related lists
• The ability to rent movies from your iPhone
• Better support for seamless password storage when using WiFi networks that require account names & passwords
• Support for saved passwords and autocomplete on web forms
• Improved VPN support

That’s my list off the top of my head, and I know I’m forgetting a few things.  If you’re lucky enough to be able to get an iPhone 3Gs (the new hardware) you’ll get all of that plus a compass, faster processor, and the ability to film and edit movies on the phone (and you get a higher-res camera).

Hope that helps update you on the iPhone. 

If you don’t care about iPhones: this isn’t an iPhone fanboy site but I will post something about them from time to time, particularly around big releases.

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A good book for our times

I just read my friend Rajesh Setty’s new book, “Upbeat: Cultivating the right attitude in tough times.”  I’ve been a fan of Rajesh’s work since I discovered him through his book “Beyond Code,” a couple of years ago.

This book is a perfect book for anyone who’s feeling victimized by today’s financial crises as it was prepared specifically to help people deal with today’s environment.  That said, I found a lot in this book that will help with improving your outlook on life, in general.

The approach Rajesh takes in this book will help you decide whether you’ll be a victim of circumstance, or whether you’ll take responsibility for your own well being and try to improve your lot in life.  From there, he provides a number of examples and insightful observations to help you figure out how to overcome obstacles and anxiety.

Not just a “feel good” book

Don’t worry – this is not just a “feel good and good things will happen to you” kind of book.  Rajesh is a serial entrepreneur and has had lots of experience with both setbacks and successes, and he rolls all that experience into this short book.

The book is organized around 5 key areas:

1. The Trap – this is how to keep the “gloom and doom” of everyday conversation from eroding your spirit, as well as how to look for the opportunities that will take you to the next level.
2. The Discipline – this is about rituals and habits, as well as becoming a “lean and mean” player in the world.
3. The Network – this is the traditional “help and be helped” networking approach, but also about how not to misuse networking tools (i.e. when Facebook becomes Fakebook).
4. The Strategy – this is all about honing your focus and taking deliberate action.
5. The Action – this deals with a notion I think of as “do the things you want to be known for” which will increase your chances of success when people are looking for a new member of their team.

The “Upbeat DIY Helpbook”

While the first part of the book focuses a lot on attitude, persistence, and commitment, the appendix is kind of like a set of mini-workshops.  Rajesh calls it the “Upbeat DIY Helpbook” and it creates short, introspective exercises to help move you along the right path.  I found that it put a fine point on many of the abstract concepts introduced in the beginning of the book and made it all seem more real.

In summary, this is a short book and an easy read, but don’t let it’s diminutive size fool you – there is a lot of power in these pages.  Oh – and I think Upbeat would be a great gift for you to give someone who finds themselves on the wrong side of this economy.

For more on Rajesh, be sure and check out his blog at http://www.lifebeyondcode.com.

del.icio.us Tags: Rajesh Setty,upbeat,book reviews,Dwayne Melancon,personal improvement

Show me the money debacle

Though I've been a bit quiet on the blog due to some time-consuming projects lately, I've had a bit of travel time to get caught up on podcasts. One of them was very illuminating, as it has to do with the economy and does a great job of explaining how the current financial chaos happened. The explanation was on a program called "This American Life," and the episode was number 355, "The Giant Pool of Money." You can download a transcript, or buy the audio podcast for 95 cents (I think the podcast is much more captivating, but the written transcript is pretty good).

The story gets into some of the "behind the scenes" machinations of the credit crisis, and clearly shows the value of business controls. If better controls had been in place, we'd have been able to avoid this crisis. And by "controls" I'm not necessarily talking about regulations - just added business scrutiny and business rules to detect and manage risk.

The root of the problem

In plowing through all the data about what led to this problem, it seems the culprit is something I have written about before: lack of "Tone at the Top." If you're unfamiliar with this notion, "tone at the top" is the tone set by the leadership of any entity. Tone at the top is communicated through policies, principles and, most importantly, actions taken by management. As you might imagine, it also has a huge influence on how the organization will behave - people will often get away with inappropriate actions if they can do it without any negative consequences.

Many of these financial organizations seemed willing to suspend business rigor and accept things that, in retrospect, should have set of lots of common sense alarm bells. They often felt they were doing things "in the name of competition," or for other rationales that (on the surface) seem reasonable. But the bottom line is their management allowed significant business changes without demanding a thorough analysis of the risk involved. And now we're all paying the price for weak tone at the top.

Check out the piece by This American Life, and see if you agree. And by the way - some of the things you'll hear will astonish you at how insane and irresponsible they seem.

Note: You can subscribe to "This American Life" for free on iTunes, but they only keep the most recent episode up there at any given time.

Del.icio.us tags: financial crisis, This American Life, Dwayne Melancon, Tone At The Top

The future of work awaits you

If you're interested in the future of collaboration, location-independent productivity, and how technology will make life better, you should take a look at what's going on at the Office 2.0 conference, which is coming up September 3-5 in San Franciso.

The conference is the brainchild of Ismael Ghalimi, who already uses all sorts of online tools to be productive no matter where he is in the world, as long as he's connected. I recently heard David Allen interview Ismael, and I think he really has an excellent grasp of the direction of collaboratoin and productivity.

The Office 2.0 conference sounds excellent - you can check out the agenda, speakers, etc. at the Office 2.0 site at the link above, or just click the logo to the right.

Good news and some savings

If you are interested in attending, I have some good news - I was trading email with Ismael this weekend and he sent me a link that will get you a discount on conference registration! Click this link to get a 10% discount on Office 2.0. Maybe I'll see you there...

Other cool things about this conference

1. They are using an awesome collaboration tool from some friends of mine here in Portland: Jive Software's clearspace. If your business wants to increase collaboration inside your company, Jive's worth a look.
2. They have a novel approach to making the conference more interactive, and providing course materials. Every year they give out a "gadget" that you get to keep. Last year it was an iPod Nano with all the materials pre-loaded on it. This year, it is an HP 2133 MiniNote PC - way cool.

News in full spectrum

A friend of mine just introduced me to an interesting way to interact with the news of the day: it's called "Spectra" and it is a very nice, free, web-based app from MSNBC. You select the categories you want to view, and Spectra begins to create swirling orbits of news headlines, color-coded by category. When you see a story you want to read, you click on it and you're presented with that article.

My Spectrum of News from this morning - Click the image for a Zoomed view

Not sure it will take the place of things like Google Reader or my favorite offline reader Sharpreader, but it is very fun to play with!

A resource for the travel-weary

I can't believe I never knew about it, but I just found out about a wonderful resource for frustrated air travelers. This is particularly handy for those of us in the northern hemisphere, since we're getting into the height of over-booked, under-experienced travel: summer vacations.

The resource I learned about is the "Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights" (CAPBOR). They can be reached in the US by phone at 1-877-FLYERS6 (1-877-359-3776), and they are staffed by volunteers who specialize in helping you deal with problems you encounter during air travel. Add it to your address book, just in case.

CAPBOR helps you understand your rights, formulate your requests in the best way to circumvent rigid airline policies, and if you have a canceled flight they will even help you find out flight status / alternate flights, help you book hotels and car rentals, and find out weather information.

You can find out more about CAPBOR and their mission at flyersrights.com, and learn about the services they can offer. They also have an excellent blog at strandedpassengers.blogspot.com. Both are well worth checking out.

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Related items:

• CAPBOR's Stranded Passenger Survival Guide
• Things to do in the middle seat (6/28/2006)
• Packing without wrinkles (11/17/2005)
• LifeHack: Knowing whether you've got good airline seats (9/5/2005)

Here’s to you, Marc - wherever you are

I just read the sad news about the passing of one of my favorite friends and personalities in tech, GTD, and just being an all around neat guy - Marc Orchant. I never met Marc in the flesh, but he touched my life in a lot of ways. He was funny, smart, kind, and supportive.

We talked a lot on email, and followed each others blogs regularly. He helped me get mirrored on OfficeZealot a long time ago. I took Marc's Microsoft Outlook online course. But most of all, I just liked Marc and loved his energy and perspective.

I miss you, Marc. My thoughts and prayers to Marc's family.

You can read a wonderful tribute to Marc on bub.blicio.us, which is where this picture came from (photographer: Brian Solis).

Ashamed of our naked skins

"We live in an atmosphere of shame. We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of our opinion, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our naked skins." -- George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (Act I)

I just read Rosa Say's latest post on Talking Story, "Learning Needs a Cool Factor." Boy, did she nail it. Rosa observed from interacting with her kids' friends (college-aged), it's apparent that learning is not percieved as a cool thing. And I agree with Rosa that we've got to help kids find the Cool Factor in learning.

I've seen the same dynamic with my son and his friends. He wants to keep secrets about most of the character-building things he does. He's active in Scouting, and takes Tae Kwon Do - but doesn't want his friends at school or around the neighborhood to know. At 13, he was invited to take the SAT early because he showed academic promise. He participates in community service projects. And he doesn't want other kids to know about any of this because some of them make fun of him when they find out. Not all of his friends would make fun of him, of course, but what 13 year old wants to take the chance to find out which ones are which?

I'm very proud of my son, and I'm sad that he can't show pride in the good things he does because of the reactions of some of his friends. I'm sure Rosa and I aren't the only parents that see this sort of dynamic. No matter what support we try to provide at home, the pressure to "fit in" out in the real world can be hard to overcome. Unless you're excellent in a team sport, it can seem like it's not OK to stand out.

When I was growing up, the background message was: "Reading Is Fundamental," "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," Bookmobiles, and even those Schoolhouse Rock cartoons. Where's that learning drumbeat now?

Maybe this is a generational thing. Maybe it's a U.S. thing. But how are we raising a generation that places so little value on learning? Will they change their attitudes as they get older?

Maybe we're so caught up in honoring diversity that we've lost sight of honoring excellence. I hope not - that wouldn't bode well for the "knowledge-based economy."

On the bright side, "corporate America" is doing some things that will help.

• Intel sponsors tons of camps, scholarships, competitions, science fairs and other programs to encourage kids to do more in science (in particular, they promote a lot of "Girls in Science" programs)
• Starbucks' promotion of "Akeela and the Bee" cast some positive attention on spelling prowess

But I don't think this is enough to hit the mainstream and make learning cool. What do you think? Dare I hope for a tipping point to make learning a cool thing for our youth?

Join in the discussion - here, or in the comments over at Rosa's place.

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Related items:

• Rosa started all of this with a Lifehack.org post on "An Environment for Learning"

Thank you, Pop

"America's fighting men and women sacrifice much to ensure that our great nation stays free. We owe a debt of gratitude to the soldiers that have paid the ultimate price for this cause, as well as for those who are blessed enough to return from the battlefield unscathed."

--Allen Boyd

It's Memorial Day weekend in the US, and a time to reflect on those who've fought and died for our country. And for all of their sacrifices, I am thankful beyond words.

In considering the quote above, it's important to remember that even those who return from the battlefield don't return unscathed. My grandfather had nightmares for about 50 years following the war, dreaming he was still aboard his bombed ship, searching frantically for a life jacket.

Thank you, Pop - for everything. You did what was right -- what was needed -- and I'm a better man for having known you.

One flu away from a cuckoo’s nest?

OK, let me start by saying I'm not trying to bring everybody down with this topic. That said, today I heard a thought-provoking discussion around Gartner's Research advisory, "G00136943: Prepare Now for a Coming Avian Flu Pandemic" (this is a free research note, and Gartner is planning a series of such advisories go to the Gartner web site and search for "pandemic" to find them, along with more detailed for-fee research).

The core warning of the note is that companies should look beyond their current, traditional disaster recovery / business continuity plans, and start developing pandemic response plans. And, we should all be doing this now. Excellent (if disconcerting) advice. Why?

We have not yet experienced a pandemic in the high tech era

Yes, we have disasters all the time - hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, fires, earthquakes, etc. These kinds of disasters only affect a localized geographic area. Even the devastating disasters like huge tsunami of 2004, the earthquakes in 2005, and Hurricane Katrina caused localized sorts of problems. They also tend to have short-lived periods of destruction (i.e. the part that causes damage goes away pretty quickly). All of this means that surrounding global communities who are not affected are able to mobilize fairly quickly and begin providing aid.

In contrast, a "pandemic," (a global epidemic) will affect a large portion of the world in a very short period of time, and could continue for weeks or months. The Gartner note cites a U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report projecting the likely effect that a pandemic of the avian influenza virus H5N1 would have on the U.S. economy, if it were to begin spreading to humans:

Got stamps?

For those of you in the US, use your 37 cent stamps by Saturday so you don't have to hassle with those 2-cent auxillary stamps. The standard postal rate in the US goes up to 39 cents on the 8th of January.

Moving forward along the Gulf Coast

My family and I just returned from a great trip back home for Christmas. My wife and I both grew up in Louisiana, and were a bit anxious about what we'd find back home after all the nasty stuff on TV about New Orleans and its post-Katrina, post-Rita craziness and despair.

The news is still bad down there...

Make no mistake about it - things are still bad back home. People in New Orleans are still without power and basic infrastructure in lots of areas. They are still living in campers and tents on their front lawns because they can't get into their mold-tainted, toxic houses. They're still finding bodies fairly regularly.

We visited my friend Paul last week while we were in Louisiana and got lots of first-hand reports. He knows families in his area that have an extra dozen or so people living with them because they have no place to go, no place to work, etc.

Paul maintains a blog -- check it out for some unvarnished, local perspective on what's happening in Louisiana.

And it's not just New Orleans - the bad news spreads across a huge portion of the Gulf Coast.

...but it's not all bad

But the news is not all bad. People are bouncing back and they are doing a lot to help each other. Christmas toy drives were going strong down there, people were giving like crazy to the local charities (and the national charities that help local people, like the Salvation Army), and churches and local service organizations are pitching in all over the place. In general, people are doing what they can to help each other regardless of race, religion, or whatever.

And it's not just New Orleans - the good news spreads across a huge portion of the Gulf Coast.

They sincerely appreciate the help they are getting

By the way - food, money, and other types of aid are still coming from all over the place. Up here in the greater Portland, Oregon area I've learned about (and participated in) all kinds of grass root projects to gather useful items and send them down south to people that need some help right now. And it's not going unnoticed down there, even though CNN seems to have moved on.

The people in Louisiana who are getting help from strangers around the world appreciate it very much. Really. So, even though the news coverage has died down a lot and is focusing on politics, the blame game, etc. -- there are a lot of people across the Gulf Coast who can use any extra prayers, charity, and good works we can spare.

If you're looking to drop in a last-minute donation while there is still time to take advantage of it on your 2005 taxes, check out my earlier post about how to make sure you're giving to a reputable, efficient charity and not a bunch of con artists.

Related Posts:

• Katrina: Email from the front lines
• A blog from a friend in Louisiana
• Helping with the hurricane

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By the way - for those of you who like data, I read an interesting article from Knight Ridder's news service today about the myths and realities of who was affected in New Orleans. It talks about how the death statistics just release are inconsistent with claims we've been hearing that Katrina's death toll was racially biased against minorities. Turns out, it was actually older people who died in disproportionately high numbers. Maybe Kanye West will start saying "George Bush hates old people," now.

Wikipedia: Taking responsibility

Well, Wikipedia seems to be taking encouraging steps in light of the recent issues they've seen. In addition to the incident I discussed last week, apparently there was another incident in which Adam Curry was accused of editing out references to others with regard to podcasting (claims which Curry denies - CNet News has the full scoop).

According to comments in the CNet article by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales,

"...to avoid future problems, Wales plans to bar anonymous users from creating new articles; only registered members will be able to do so. That change will go into effect Monday, he said, adding that anonymous users will still be able to edit existing entries."

"That's less of a problem, Wales suggested, because changes are frequently vetted by members who keep watch lists of articles they want to ensure remain accurate--perhaps even articles they've written themselves."

A step closer, but we're not off the slippery slope just yet. The article further cites comments from Dave Winer that certainly ring true for me:

"Wikipedia is so often considered authoritative. That must stop now, surely. Every fact in there must be considered partisan, written by someone with a conflict of interest," blogging and podcasting pioneer Dave Winer wrote in his blog. "Further, we need to determine what authority means in the age of Internet scholarship."

In particular, that last comment about "what authority means in the age of Internet scholarship" is the stickiest bit. As you may know from blog surfing, there are some great opinions and great facts mingled in the minds of some really smart people. How do you unravel the facts from the opinions?

In some cases, knowing the difference between fact an opinion in online research may not be a big deal - trying out someone's personally developed technique for time management is not a high-risk endeavor, after all. Other applications of data obtained from the internet could have bigger implications. This is not the first we've seen of this issue, I'm certain.

The dark side of wikis

A couple of articles have come my way this week, which highlight one of the challenges of open information sharing: people sometimes lie. The articles I've read are about a false bit of "history" created on Wikipedia, defaming a gentleman that used to work for Bobby Kennedy.

If you know your source is subject to subversion, you can look for third party verification - but people want to trust things like Wikipedia because they very good, and they make research much easier. Encouragingly, my 12-year-old's school is educating their students on the cautions of using Wikipedia as a reference source. In fact, the first I heard about this Wikipedia false history incident was from them via email. This, from the school librarian:

Wikipedia, an online "encyclopedia," is being used heavily by students. They need to be aware that it is not always accurate. Here is an example: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm 

My solution: use it if you must but verify the information in at least two other sources that have established reputations for providing reliable information. That might mean looking in a book!

My daily CNet News.com alert contained a perspective piece on "Wikipedia and the nature of truth," which offers additional perspective on the article above.

Lying is nothing new, of course. But access to lies gets easier with the internet.

When people lie in a credible venue, how long can the venue remain credible? It depends on whether you take action to rectify the lie, and implement controls to reduce the possibility that future lies will be tolerated.

One solution is to use some kind of verification process to assure you of the credibility of the source. Professional research organizations and commercial encyclopedias ostensibly have fact checkers to vet this out.

I'm not sure if Wikipedia's structure allows a fact checking process, or if it simply relies on peer review and "let us know if you see something wrong" vigilance. That's fine, but it seems there should be some sort of authentication for content providers, at minimum, so we could avoid the "we don't really know who made this false claim" situation outlined in the USA Today piece. I think that's reasonable for a resource like Wikipedia, which is emerging as an authoritative reference source.

What do you think?

Related Posts:

• Wiki, wiki. Smooth and sticky.

It’s a wonder I remember to wear pants, I guess

I've noticed a trend in advertising that bugs me.  What trend?  The depiction of men as stupid.  For example:

• I just saw a Home Depot commercial on TV where a woman buys some tool called a "MultiTasker" and asks the store employee, "Does that mean I won't need him?" and points to her husband who's busy sticking a plunger to his forehead.
• There's another commercial on the radio where a woman is advised to treat her husband like a dog to get him to use a household cleaning product more often.  The announcer says things like, "When he uses the product, praise him by saying 'Good boy!' and pat him on the head."

In a society where we are supposed to respect others and not denigrate people based on sex, I don't think this is a good thing.  If the same commercials were made with women as the stupid one, how would the public react?  They tend to shy away from casting a black man as the stupid man, too.  But when the "stupid man" is just some white guy, it seems that's OK.

Some stereotypes are just wrong, and certainly shouldn't be promoted in mainstream advertising campaigns.  For example, portraying blondes as dumb, successful women as bitches, southerners as toothless idiots, many ethnic and nationality-based stereotypes, etc.  The list goes on, and I think it should include the "all men are stupid" stereotype.

I'm all for free speech, but  I don't think promoting that kind of thinking is doing anyone any good.